Third-grader Jason Moore was gripped tightly in the arm of police Investigator Chris Hoina.''I am drugs, cigarettes, alcohol, cocaine -- all the evil things,'' Hoina told Jason, his play-acting volunteer. ''You got curious and started taking these things. Now try to get away.''The 8-year-old struggled in vain to ''get free'' as about 150 third graders in the cafeteria looked on.''You see this,'' Hoina said as Jason twisted and turned during a recent assembly at Edgewater Elementary School.

Cycle breaking It's rare in the criminal justice sector to find programs that are both effective and money-savers. Drug court is that rare program. Instead of doing time, nonviolent offenders in drug court programs do substance-abuse treatment and job training under strict court oversight. A trade-off that cuts crime and drug use. However, part of Florida's drug court program is on borrowed time. Eight drug courts were created in 2009 that include nonviolent offenders with prison-grade rap sheets.

CANBERRA, Australia -- Tobacco, alcohol and illicit drugs prematurely kill about 7 million people worldwide each year, and the number is rising, according to a study released in Australia on Tuesday. Professor Juergen Rehm, director of Switzerland's Addiction Research Institute, said in the Australian capital, Canberra, that the global burden of disease resulting from smoking, drinking and taking drugs was huge.

Back in 2009, Jeremy Mayfield gave an exclusive interview to the Orlando Sentinel after NASCAR suspended him for testing positive. Here is a reprint of that article. Mayfield denies taking illegal drugs Orlando Sentinel - Sunday, May 17, 2009 By Tania Ganguli, Staff Writer CONCORD, N.C. -- Suspended NASCAR Sprint Cup driver and owner Jeremy Mayfield said NASCAR has not told him what he tested positive for, denied taking illegal drugs and indicated he is considering legal action against NASCAR.

Dear George W. Bush: I hope you become president of the United States. I think that you'll be a good president and help the country stop violence and stuff like that. It would make a difference to stop violence in the world because there is too much crime, such as people killing and taking drugs, shooting guns and robbing people. Tyler Richards Second grade Lake Silver Elementary School Orlando

HEROIN BUST. Police seized heroin with a street value of $20 million from a truck bound for Amsterdam from Turkey, Bavarian state officials said Thursday. Seventy-two bags each stuffed with 2.2 pounds of the drug were found in a hidden compartment in the truck at a highway rest area Monday. Police believe the heroin haul, Bavaria's biggest, has smashed a well-established operation for taking drugs across the Balkans into central Europe, officials said.

Stacy Keach, released earlier this year from an English prison in which he served time for taking drugs into that country, returns to work starring in a new CBS movie.Keach will co-star with actress Teri Garr in Intimate Strangers, a story dealing with an Army doctor and a nurse who were separated during the fall of Saigon and are reunited nine years later.

IT SEEMS as though professional sports have their rules in reverse. Pete Rose stands a chance of being kicked out of baseball for gambling, but yet how many professional athletes have been given second and third chances for using illegal drugs?Not to mention the number of them who have died from taking drugs. Drug users are given a second chance to kill themselves.How many people have died from gambling compared to drug overdose?Something needs to be changed.WILLIAM REIS Winter Park

BALTIMORE - Three teenagers were in critical condition Friday after a woman allegedly forced them to swallow her prescription drugs at knifepoint, police said. The woman was charged with attempted murder. The teens were found unconscious Thursday after taking drugs including muscle relaxants and morphine near the woman's home in Joppatowne, Md., about 25 miles northeast of Baltimore in Harford County. Deputy sheriffs found more than 200 prescription drugs at the residence Thursday. Police said witnesses told them the woman might have been angry about a confrontation with one of the victims.

A WAR of words has developed over the controversy of athletes and drugs. Former Olympic sprint champion Allan Wells has warned six-time gold medalist Carl Lewis to stop accusing other athletes of taking drugs and says he ''would not be surprised if one day his halo slipped and choked'' the American track star. In a column in the March edition of Scotland's Runner magazine, Wells accused Lewis of riding a ''snowy white chariot against drugs'' and bringing all athletes under suspicion. Lewis, who was in London, was unavailable for immediate comment.

Drug tests for all? It never bodes well when a new boss comes in and immediately institutes a sweeping, costly initiative that suggests a distrust of the employees he now leads. Such is the case with Gov. Rick Scott's ill-conceived executive order requiring random drug testing of all current state employees answering to his office, as well as potential hires. In this case, Scott is following up one bad policy move with another. The Legislature is already working on his campaign promise to require those who apply for welfare in Florida to undergo a drug screening before receiving benefits.

CONCORD, N.C. -- Suspended NASCAR Sprint Cup driver and owner Jeremy Mayfield said NASCAR has not told him what he tested positive for, denied taking illegal drugs and indicated he is considering legal action against NASCAR. Mayfield spoke for the first time since his suspension, just outside a National Guard hospitality hauler in the infield of Lowe's Motor Speedway. "I'm labeled now," Mayfield said. "The damage is done." The terms of his suspension do not allow him to be in "any area of the track where NASCAR business or responsibilities are conducted" including hospitality areas, so Mayfield was asked to leave shortly after he spoke.

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon's internal watchdog is investigating whether the military forced terror suspects to take mind-altering drugs to ease interrogation. The CIA is conducting a similar review, Pentagon Assistant Inspector General John C. Crane said in a letter to the Senate. Though former detainees have alleged they were drugged, the issue was raised anew with the release in April of a five-year-old memo written by then-Office of Legal Counsel attorney John Yoo. The CIA and Pentagon have denied using drugs in interrogations.

If you doubted whether drug companies were buying their way into doctor offices by supplying banquets of free food, check out Minnesota. The New York Times reports that when Minnesota slapped a $50 weekly cap on the meals pharmaceutical salespeople can give to doctors, the number of sales visits dropped dramatically. We wouldn't be surprised if that drop was accompanied with an increase in the prescribing of generic drugs, rather than pricey name brands. The companies say doctors are busy and the meals give them a chance to take a break and learn about the latest drug advances.

A DUI charge filed against Polk County Commissioner Randy Wilkinson during the weekend was dropped Thursday by the State Attorney's Office because tests showed he did not take drugs or alcohol. Wilkinson, 53, was arrested early Saturday after Lakeland police spotted him staggering in a drugstore and driving improperly. A breath test taken Saturday showed there was no alcohol in Wilkinson's blood, and a urine sample came back drug-free, Lakeland police said Thursday. "I knew I wasn't guilty to begin with," Wilkinson said.

WASHINGTON -- A popular class of blood-pressure medicines thought to be safe in the first trimester of pregnancy appears to cause serious birth defects in about 7 percent of babies whose mothers took the drugs, a study has found. ACE inhibitors already carry a warning that pregnant women should not use them in the last two trimesters because they can cause kidney damage to the fetus. The number of women taking them early in pregnancy is unknown but probably small, the study suggests. ACE inhibitors are the second-most commonly prescribed class of pharmaceuticals in the United States, with 149 million prescriptions dispensed last year.

On cocaine: ''If you shoot or smoke it as crack or base, it gives you a three-minute rush and you want more. If you toot a moderate amount for four hours, you're a loud-mouthed, hyperconfident, obnoxious person, but it's your right to be that.''On addiction: ''I am passionately against addicts who misuse drugs. I make fun of them. Humor and satire is the best way to educate. No one wants to be laughed at.''On adolescent drug use: ''There's only one place where I agree with Mrs. Reagan. I totally agree with her on having kids say no. I have a 13-year-old kid and two teen-age grandchildren.

Dear Mom and Dad,I will never take drugs because I know what kind of effect they have on your body, family and friends.Drugs kill you and taking drugs is an idiotic, senseless thing to do. For one thing, they are illegal, but they also are toxic to your body. When you take them, you get paranoid, insane and do some things you will regret, such as murder.Some people are so addicted that they sell their home and furniture and strip themselves of possessions just to get the money to buy more drugs.

Seven years after Pfizer made Viagra a cultural touchstone and commercial blockbuster, the market for impotence medicines appears to have fallen well short of what was predicted. Heavy advertising to consumers, totaling more than $400 million in 2004, has made Viagra and its newer competitors, Cialis and Levitra, among the best-known drug brands. Their combined global sales reached about $2.5 billion last year. But the number of new prescriptions for the drugs has fallen steadily this year.